Almost 40 per cent of UK associates currently at a US firm said money was their key motivator for joining – twice as many as last year, a survey by The Lawyer reveals today.

The survey, which was sent to hundreds of UK associates at US firms in March this year, asked respondents why they had been atracted to work for a US firm.

Nearly 40 per cent said they joined for more cash , the highest-rated single reason proportionately. It marks a huge increaseon 2012, when just 23 per cent of respondents said money was their main motivator.

The survey, filled out by more than 500 UK associates during the same month, respondents said they had no intention of joining certain US firms because they did not know anything about them. The differing responses suggest that many US firms don’t make it onto UK associates’ radar until the job offer lands on their desks.

One of the highest paying US firms in the UK is Bingham McCutchen, which offers NQ City lawyers a £100,000 salary. However, just 7 per cent of UK associates put Bingham as their preferred choice of US firms, compared with 44 per cent who chose Hogan Lovells where NQs are offered around 40 per cent less, at £61,500.

When asked to list the international firms they would most consider joining respondents selected US firms that had been in London longest pver those that offered top rate salaries.

The respondents said the firms they were mostly likely to apply to were: Baker & McKenzie, DLA Piper and Hogan Lovells. All three firms – the latter two included in the survey by dint of their US mergers – have a distinguished heritage in the UK.

A surprising number of UK associates haven’t even heard of the top US firms in London. Our survey reveals their attitudes, read all about it here: The Known Unknown

On the one hand the article claims that money is the key attraction for moves to US firms but on the other UK/US firms that don’t pay any higher than their pure UK counterparts are listed as more attractive destinations…